


this tired mind (just wants to be led home)

by abapical



Series: A Series of Incestuous Events [4]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Father/Son Incest, Incest, M/M, Multi, Wolf Derek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-21
Updated: 2014-07-21
Packaged: 2018-02-09 10:21:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1979172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abapical/pseuds/abapical
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Of course they keep Derek. It happens gradually, but it does happen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	this tired mind (just wants to be led home)

**Author's Note:**

> So there's no porn in this part, because apparently trying to make an incestuous threesome happen in an even remotely convincing manner = ALL THE SLOW BURN. However! The next part is being edited and will be up next week. I'm trying to finish things more quickly since I have more time for it these days. Thanks for being patient. :D

 

Maybe the weirdest thing of all is that nothing feels weird. For someone who just had his second-ever heat and got through it with the help of his own father and a hired alpha, Stiles thinks he’s pretty chill about everything. Derek didn’t freak out and his dad would never do anything Stiles wasn’t comfortable with, so really, it’s not a big deal, even though he’s pretty sure it should feel like it is.

But once his heat has completely passed and he's using the weekend to recover, he and his dad end up on the couch having a movie night and splitting a bowl of low-sodium popcorn (which Stiles will never admit is far inferior to regular popcorn because they're being _healthy_ , dammit) like life is just continuing normally. And Stiles isn't sure what makes him say it, but his dad looks so peaceful and relaxed and it kind of reminds him of how he looked with Derek, which goes back to how surprised Stiles had been that anyone was able to get his dad to loosen up that much at all. 

"You still like Derek, right?"

His dad glances at him. "Yeah. I didn't actually expect to, but yeah."

Stiles carefully selects a few especially buttery-looking pieces of popcorn. "Good. Me too." 

And his dad gives him a little side-hug over the bowl without saying anything else.

Stiles can totally admit to himself that he kind of missed the memo about heat matches and how to treat them. It used to be that omegas were expected to bond with the first alpha who saw them through a heat, but that’s considered antiquated now and Stiles really doesn’t like the idea of his stupid hormones having all the say in who he eventually ends up with while his brain has no say whatsoever. These days, you’re not supposed to make a habit of seeing the same heat match, since there’s a risk of becoming dependent on them. But he does really want to see Derek again. He wants his _dad_ to see Derek again, and he suspects his dad wouldn’t be opposed to that either.

He kind of gets that his dad is always going to worry about him, and he's always going to feel like he needs to take care of him, but he doesn't have to feel that way about Derek. Derek can make all of that melt away. Stiles might have been all heat-drugged and out of it, but he was still present enough to notice that much. Maybe if he just tries hard enough he can induce a false heat and his dad will call Derek out of sheer panic. He hates himself for even thinking that, though.

He _does_ have actual fantasies about just sitting on the couch, watching a movie and eating crappy popcorn and getting snuggled by both of them. Maybe crawling into Derek’s lap and being held. Or kicking his ass at Halo 3 some more. Probably both at once would be most efficient. _That_ he thinks he could make happen, maybe. His dad never did give him an answer when he asked if this was really the only time Derek would be there for him during a heat. And Stiles never said a thing about seeing Derek _outside_ a heat. They haven't even talked about what's going to happen the next time he has one. At this point, Stiles is in the stage between getting prescribed suppressants and waiting to see what they do for him, so his next heat could hit him hard several months from now or it could be a mild one that hits him when a regular heat would.

That is, if he had started taking them at all.

He's having a hard time admitting to himself why he hasn't.

Regardless, he's no closer to seeing Derek again, what with the one-time-only clause still in their contract, and his dad never seems to want to talk about that one night, which Stiles is _really_ unimpressed with. Derek did a really good thing for both of them. He made them both so happy, and his dad really doesn't get a lot of opportunities for that. Sometimes, when he's feeling bummed and thinking he really might never get to spend another heat with Derek, he thinks of going out to the preserve just so he can find him and say thanks. It’s probably a little stalkerish, but it’s all he’s got.

 

* * *

Plan B hits him once he’s back at school. Literally. He’s sprinting down the hallway, late for algebra, when he slams into Cora Hale.

Hale as in _Hale_. As in Derek’s sister. As in the girl who _everyone_ knows because there aren’t exactly a ton of werewolves at this school and Cora has a reputation for tearing it up on the girls’ track team. Stiles can’t believe this didn’t occur to him before.

“Uh. Sorry?”

The bell shrieks and Cora, with her arched brow and unimpressed eyes, looks like she’s trying not to do the same.

Stiles isn’t a novice at this; he already got Derek's address from the contract he found in his dad's files, he's just not sure what to do with it yet. Cora isn't making things any easier. She walks past him and Stiles blurts out, “You’re, um, you’re a Hale?”

She’s wearing a jersey that has HALE emblazoned on the back in bright white letters about seven feet tall.

"Oh," he says, once Cora's heaved a huge sigh and spun back around. "Yeah, anyway. I’m Stiles? And your brother--"

Cora's mouth turns down a bit. "Do I really wanna hear this?" 

Right. She probably knows about Derek’s contract with the Stilinskis.

Stiles can work with that. "Probably not? I just, um, me and my dad wanted to say thanks and it'd be really cool if I could do it in person. In a totally professional way, I mean."

He's not _technically_ lying, but he's not sure that's enough to get by Cora's werewolf senses. Still, she's an alpha like Derek, she has those same alpha instincts. It's very hard to say no in the face of an anxious omega. Stiles does his research, he knows things.

Cora sighs. “It’s Stilinski, right? Is there any chance we could have this talk sometime that _won’t_ get us written up for skipping?”

Which is how Stiles ends up in the gym after school, watching her practically lift a vending machine off the ground in order to shake free a packet of trail mix. If this is supposed to intimidate him into rethinking his question, it backfires spectacularly. Stiles knows he’s gaping a little, but he can’t help it. Werewolves are so fucking cool.

Cora tears into her snack and gives him the same unimpressed look from before. “I’m guessing you can’t drive yourself.”

“Yeah, that would be a correct guess. Could you maybe give me a ride?”

“We live all the way out on the preserve.”

“I know,” Stiles says. “It’s cool, I can have my dad pick me up when he’s off work. Or maybe Derek could drive me back.”

She only pauses for a moment to raise her brows again. “Derek isn't going to be home for another couple hours.”

“I can totally entertain myself, no problem. You won’t even know I’m there.”

The thing about Cora is that she always looks kind of bored and haughty and intimidatingly gorgeous in the same way the Grand Canyon or a stalking tiger does. Stiles can easily picture her reaction to finding out about Derek’s latest heat match after he signed the contract, most likely something along the lines of, “Wait, _Stilinski_? The little guy with the buzz cut who has a limited grasp of social cues? _That_ Stilinski?"

She’s a year ahead of him and he's probably just a dumb kid to her. She’d be well within her rights to laugh her ass off and tell him to stop being so weird about Derek.

Instead, she mutters, “I’m gonna hold you to that,” and lets him follow her out to the parking lot.

It takes about ten minutes before it turns out Stiles is pretty terrible at entertaining himself and Cora is just as terrible at ignoring him. 

“So Derek said your dad’s an omega, but is everyone _else_ in your family an alpha?”

“The kids, yeah.” Cora blithely flies through a yellow light and turns down the dirt road to the preserve. “Mom’s got a brother who’s a beta, but he’s kind of a jerk. She’s kept him close to keep him in line ever since his ex-wife’s pack kicked him out. Mostly it works.”

If she’s anything like Cora, Stiles believes it. Going by what his dad told him, Talia Hale is very nice but also intimidating as all hell. “Is it weird knowing about…” he gestures vaguely towards himself and chokes on the rest of his words when Cora lurches to a stop in front of the Hale house.

“You get used to it.” Cora eyeballs him. “The omegas Derek and Laura have worked with always seem fine with letting everything be a one time deal, though. You’re being kind of aggressive, you know that, right?”

“Yeah, I think we crossed that bridge when my dad invited him to dinner-slash-interrogation… wait, your sister does heat matching too?”

Cora shoves open the front door. “I’m making nachos, _then_ you can be nosy. It’s seriously not that interesting anyway.”

Stiles gets the impression that Cora is still in the stage where she wants to do the opposite of everything her family does. “Maybe not to you. But like, you hear horror stories sometimes about alphas who get violent because they can't control themselves around omegas in heat. And werewolves already have enough crap giving them a bad name, so I think it’s pretty cool Laura and Derek are putting themselves out there.”

“ _Nachos_ ,” Cora repeats, dumping a mountain of shredded cheese onto her plate. “I swear I said nosiness _after_ nachos.”

“Multi-tasking saves time.” Stiles steals a tortilla chip and pops it into his mouth. “Hey, I think Adventure Time is on.”

“I cannot fucking believe you.”

 

* * *

There’s some kind of weird scientific formula that involves the combination of gooey cheesy goodness and Princess Bubblegum kicking ass and someday Stiles is going to sit down and puzzle it all out and make a fortune. But whatever it is, it makes Cora a lot more amenable to having her brain picked.

“ _Okay_ ,” she grudgingly admits, “you’re kind of right. Laura got into heat matching when she heard about other alphas doing shitty jobs at it. She said mom and dad raised her better so she was going to share her knowledge with the world, blah blah blah. It was just a matter of time before Derek did too.”

Stiles melts. The Hales are so _nice_. “Your parents are cool with that?”

“Our uncle’s the only one who makes a big deal out of it.” 

“The same creepy uncle your mom keeps an eye on?”

“That’s the one. Sometimes he tries to get Derek and Laura to give him details on the omegas they see. When Laura started handling heats, she almost took his head off.”

“Did he ask about me?”

Cora smiles for the first time. It’s a little disturbing. “Yep, and Derek was ready to take his head off too. Peter made it sound all dirty, said he didn’t know Derek was into jailbait.” 

“So what happened?” Stiles can feel his heart thumping a little harder. His alpha _defended_ him.

“He said yeah, you might be a year shy of legal, but you shouldn't have to endure a heat alone just because your body didn't get the memo about not starting until you’re fifteen. Then he whipped out his credentials, which basically never happens because Derek sucks at taking credit for anything he’s good at, and was all ‘why _shouldn't_ his dad try and find him the best alpha he can?’ and Peter shut up. It was awesome.”

“Seriously?”

“Peter gets under people’s skin like that all the time. Sometimes he needs a reminder that he's not an alpha himself so he doesn’t have a place in conversations like that.”

“If he’s such a dick, what’s the point in letting him stay?” 

“Because he’s pack,” Cora says simply, which fits with what Stiles has read about how it's typical for werewolves to stay with their family unit until they decide to form one of their own. “And Peter's the kind of sniveling dick who likes to keep himself close to people more powerful than he is. Now could you stop fucking with the volume? You’re driving me crazy.” 

They’re commentating their way through a fourth episode of Adventure Time when Stiles hears a car pulling up out front. He sits bolt upright and stares at Cora, who pretends not to notice even though she must have heard the car long before he did. “Is that--it’s him, right?”

“Mm,” Cora hums. “He’s walking up to the door and he’s really confused because he’s picking up your scent.” 

Stiles' brain turns itself inside out recalling everything Cora told him. That Derek's never had an omega track him down. That at most, maybe he'll see one in the grocery store or if he picks her up from school and they'll exchange polite nods. This is something else entirely and for all he knows Derek is going to resent him being here at all.

He’s saucer-eyed and open-mouthed when Derek steps inside. Worn jeans, flannel shirt, and even scruffier than before. He looks very mountain man chic and very nonplussed.

“I--hi, wow, you look awesome,” is the first thing out of Stiles' stupid mouth and he cringes immediately. “Sorry, is that weird? I’m thinking that was kind of weird. Can we talk? I just...I mean, I came by to talk. About stuff. If you’re okay with that. Or--I didn’t come by, I sort of had Cora bring me.” He’s kind of waiting for Cora to step in and explain things, but Cora seems to be quite content watching him fall all over himself. Cora is kind of a jerk.

Derek’s eyebrows draw in a bit more. Now he looks like he’s smoldering for an invisible porn photographer. Stiles is intensely glad he’s already sitting down. “I didn’t know you two were friends.”

“We’re not,” Cora says sweetly. “Stiles, why don’t you tell him what you wanted to talk about?”

Stiles looks helplessly at Derek, who sighs.

“Let’s take a walk, Stiles.”

Cora gives him a rather murderous stare for that, while Stiles is ready to hug him within an inch of his life. He still isn’t quite sure what might come pouring out of his mouth, but the fewer werewolf ears overhearing him the better.

 

* * *

“So I realize this is, like, really not heat match protocol or whatever at _all_ , but I just wanted to say thanks.”

Derek’s ridiculous lose-yourself-forever eyes get a little wider. “You didn’t need to do that.”

Stiles has to shove his hands into his pockets to keep from fidgeting or trying to paw Derek like an animal. "I know you were just doing your job, but...I mean, nobody's ever done anything like that for my dad. I'd never seen him like that. Or at least not for a really long time." 

With Derek, his dad had actually seemed to let things go for once. And Stiles definitely knows how hard it is for alphas to find other alphas they're compatible with. He still gets a little vengeful when he thinks of his dad's brief forays into the dating world and how no one he met was even close to being good enough for him. Then there's Derek, who's an alpha and definitely good enough...and, Stiles is realizing, who maybe doesn't get laid very often unless he's helping an omega through a heat. Basically, Derek really needs to come over and get a hand down his dad's pants again. Possibly while Stiles is there and not too heat-muddled to realize what's happening, but he’ll take what he can get. He really likes Derek, but his dad is his first priority and always has been.

Derek is _smiling_ at him now. The Stilinskis are probably the weirdest family Derek has ever met and Stiles is probably coming across as a blithering idiot with stalker tendencies right now; he has no fucking clue why Derek seems so charmed.

“I think this might be violating my contract,” Derek points out, but he’s still smiling and doesn’t sound at all upset. 

“Dude, that contract is looking pretty mangled already. Just saying.”

Derek rolls his eyes and looks like he’s about to pull Stiles into a headlock or something, but he just keeps walking, keeps the same respectful distance between them he's been maintaining ever since Stiles laid eyes on him. Derek is so fucking _respectful_ about everything and he smells earthy and fresh and Stiles wants him to pull him into his lap under one of the big oak trees and press his nose against his nape more than anything right now. It’s killing him by the second.

Stiles doesn’t remember everything that happened during his heat, but he remembers what it had been like when it tapered off enough for him to finally start feeling the soreness of the last several hours. The two of them had sponged him down, carefully gotten him into the shower, and he'd been so weak his daddy essentially had to hold him up so Derek could finish scrubbing him off. He'd had to hide his face in his daddy's chest when Derek's fingers slid back into him, even though he'd been so careful about cleaning him there and checking him over, but every little touch was too much for his overtaxed nerves to handle by then.

Afterward, they’d tucked him into his daddy’s bed since the guest bed was a wreck by then and his own was too little, and he’d passed out between them. He’d spent the next several hours drifting in and out of sleep, catching snatches of conversation. His dad telling Derek about Stiles as a little kid, how he'd always appoint himself nursemaid whenever John or Claudia got sick, he was so eager to take care of everyone. Telling Derek how they didn't think they'd even be able to have a kid without adopting. When Stiles forced his eyes open for a fraction of a second, his daddy had been looking at him like he still wasn’t sure he was real. And Derek had just smoothed a hand over his forehead and told him to get some rest, like this was no big deal to him. 

The main thing Stiles took away from the whole insane experience of his second heat was that Derek goes above and beyond even if shit gets weird. And if he _does_ think something’s weird, he’s still so charming it’s hard to tell. Derek chats with him about school and work and how the hell Stiles managed to convince ever-prickly Cora to drive him over. He doesn’t act like there’s anything odd about Stiles popping up out of the blue at all.

So Stiles doesn’t think he’s pushing his luck too much when he eventually brings the topic back around to the question Derek never actually answered earlier. “Anyway, so I was thinking maybe you could come visit again?” 

He’s trying really hard to be smooth, but he says the word _visit_ accompanied by something that probably looks like either a petit mal seizure or a particularly bizarre series of eyebrow contortions.

He just really wants to impress upon Derek how monumental this thing was. Derek doesn't know his dad like Stiles does, he doesn't know how big a deal it was for him to look so happy. And Stiles doesn't decide just _anyone_ is worthy of his father’s attention. Stiles is incredibly protective of his dad and he constantly laments the fact that he's just a kid and there's a certain kind of security he just can’t give him. But Derek is older and wiser and not actually _related_ to him, and Stiles really thinks they could have a chance. All right, so Derek’s also almost twenty years younger, Stiles did the math, and he probably hasn’t ever been attracted to an alpha before, but Stiles has to _try_.

And Stiles is still rambling, trying to make his point. "I mean, no pressure or anything, but if I just think it’d be really good for him if you ever want to come by..."

"I'm not sure what you're trying to tell me, Stiles." Derek sounds officially confused.

Stiles looks him dead in the eye. "I think you should bone my dad."

Derek walks into a tree limb.

And okay, Stiles is aware that wasn’t the most elegant way of breaking the news to him but he didn’t mean to _concuss_ him with it. He stares in horror for a minute while Derek tries to keep from faceplanting into the dirt, then yelps, "I thought wolves had super acute reflexes!"

“We _do_ ,” Derek mutters, “but most wolves don't end up having this talk. And I’m fine, by the way.”

Stiles rolls his eyes. This is Werewolf 101 stuff. "You're already healed, what are you scowling about?"

Derek scrubs a hand over his face. “Do you want to run that by me one more time?”

“Dude, you obviously like my dad, right?” Stiles hasn't known Derek very long, but you feel a certain closeness with the alpha who gets hired to see you through a heat. _And_ his dad approved of him. That's huge.

He doesn't care that he's not _supposed_ to feel any closeness, that Derek was supposed to be a one-time deal. He's on a mission here. And in his defense, your heat match doesn't usually have such a monumental effect on your little broken family and your emotionally scarred father. The way he sees it, he has some pretty legitimate reasons to be more attached than most omegas.

“Stiles, that’s not the point.”

“Look, it's very noble, deflowering omegas for the greater good and all that, but you need to look after yourself too.” 

“And you’re, what, my life coach now?”

"I could be,” Stiles says, ready to tap dance in the middle of the woods because Derek might be looking at him like he’s got a few screws loose but he hasn’t said no. “I can get some business cards printed up if it makes me seem more legit. And seriously, you made him feel really good and he needs more of that. So...yeah. It’d be cool if you’d come visit. Boning optional.” 

Honestly, Stiles is hoping that some touching happens, but he'd be okay with it if Derek and his dad could just be friends. His dad seemed to really take to Derek, to see him as someone he could really talk to, and his dad doesn't really have anyone like that. Stiles tries to be that for him, but he knows it's not the same. 

His dad could use a Scott, if nothing else. When Scott and Stiles were younger, they used to say that they didn't like anyone else so they'd probably end up getting married eventually. And Scott was so curious about Stiles' heat and what his alpha was like, it’s never occurred to Stiles to hold anything back from him. Aside from the part about his dad helping him through his heats-- that’s just not something you share even with your BFF. 

But after Stiles sent him that picture of Derek he managed to snap when he was over for dinner, Scott sent back the most bug-eyed selfie ever and demanded details and Stiles obliged as soon as he had more data to go on. Scott's got a vested interest in this, he sees it as a chance to get some pointers on How To Alpha when he's older, so Stiles had told him him all about how Derek was raised and how he's very respectful and always gave him just what he needed. That's basically Scott's ambition: to find a nice omega and be nice to them. His best friend is kind of a dork, but he’s a dork with a heart of gold. He’s had Scott for as long as he can remember and wouldn’t have him any other way. But his dad...his only real social circle is his work. And he has some great coworkers, Stiles just knows there's more to life than that.

“I’m not actually sure your dad and I have much in common,” Derek carefully points out. 

Stiles cringes, even though Derek’s not out of line here. The main source of bonding between his dad and Derek so far has been Stiles himself. 

“And,” Derek continues, “it’s totally possible he’d rather be around people closer to his own age. There’s a big difference between twenty-four and forty-four.”

“Okay, so you’re a couple decades behind,” Stiles admits, and very tactfully doesn't mention that he's _three_ decades younger and his daddy still finger-fucked him through two heats. “Wait, how do you even know how old he is? Did you guys talk about zodiac signs while I was passed out?”

Derek looks a little abashed. “My mom told me she was meeting with the _sheriff_ about a potential heat match. That’s kind of a big deal. Your dad isn’t the only one who does his research.”

Stiles doesn’t even bother wondering why the fuck picturing Derek googling his dad makes him get a little lightheaded. _Everything_ about Derek seems to induce varying degrees of lightheadedness. “Hey, worst case scenario? You’ll have someone to play Call of Duty with for a few hours.” 

“Fine.”

Stiles blinks. “Seriously?”

“Seriously.” Derek’s lips twitch. “Are you really gonna just give up if I say anything else?”

Good wolf. He’s learning.

Before Derek drives him home, Stiles can’t resist getting in a hug--just a quick one, just to thank Derek for humoring him--and Derek doesn't even hesitate before he has his arms around Stiles' waist and his face buried in his neck. He must have a pretty good scent, even without a heat. Stiles would totally swoon if he was the swooning type. At least, he doesn’t _think_ he’s the swooning type. Being in heat makes everyone pretty swoony. 

Now that he’s sold Derek on the idea, he needs to bite the bullet and try to sell his dad on it too.

Subtlety isn’t his strong suit, but he at least tries to sound slightly less… _fourteen_ about it when he asks as they’re unloading the dishwasher. And he does carefully wait until his dad isn’t holding anything breakable, just in case. “Do you think we could have Derek over for dinner again sometime? Just to say thanks?” 

His dad only hesitates for a few seconds before saying yes.

 

* * *

 

* * *

Even Cora has to admit defeat on this one. 

"He's cute," she says, after Derek returns from driving Stiles home (and getting another long, indulgent cuddle before he hopped out of the car). "It's kind of gross."

Derek's too blissed out on Stiles' scent to answer. Hours later, when his mom gets home, there’s still a goofy grin on his face.

“You smell interesting,” she tells him, and waits.

Derek shrugs. “Stiles was here. I’m thinking of going to see the sheriff about revising the contract. Just the part about me seeing Stiles being a one-time deal.”

His mom just blinks and waits some more. 

“He says his dad wants me to come by again," Derek admits carefully. He’s good enough at monitoring his own heartbeat that he can lie well enough to fool his family, but _technically_ this is the truth.

“I see,” she says. She doesn’t ask him to elaborate any further, which is just as well since Derek doesn’t even know where he’d begin.

 

* * *

When he shows up at the Stilinski house again, Stiles opens the door before he even has a chance to knock.

“You’re here,” he exclaims like he didn’t text Derek multiple times throughout the day to make sure he was still coming, and then launches himself into a hug.

He feels so good wrapped up in Derek’s arms and his scent is just as sweet and clean as it was last time, only without the heady musk of heat clinging to it. Derek can’t resist nuzzling his neck to get an extra deep breath of it. Stiles gives a little yelp of laughter, then says something about cinnamon rolls and practically dances into the other room. 

When Derek looks over, John is standing there watching him with the kind of smile Derek remembers from the night of Stiles' second heat. “Glad you made it.”

Derek shakes his hand and the first thought that pops into his head is _he’s had those fingers inside Stiles_ , but then Stiles pops back out of the kitchen with plates and Derek manages to shake himself off.

Honestly, he knows a creepy relative when he sees one--he lives with fucking _Peter_ \--and John has never struck him as one. Ever since Stiles' heat, Derek has been trying to make himself see this situation objectively. It’s occurred to him that if he wasn't so smitten with this little family, he'd probably be a lot more freaked out by Stiles’ relationship with his dad. He's still having some trouble reasoning with himself, since he can't see any way in which Stiles is getting hurt. And he really likes John--he's doing the best he can and Derek’s heard the way John talks about Stiles, he's seen how much he'll do for Stiles' sake.

Stiles is right, though. John does seem lonely, since his life is essentially divided into work and Stiles, and that doesn't sit well with Derek. The guy needs a more things in his life that he doesn't have to worry about. Derek does understand Stiles' reasoning here and there’s no doubt in his mind that Stiles is going to persevere with this. He'll keep finding ways for Derek to hang out with them until his dad finally gets it.

Derek is still half expecting for this all to be awkward as hell. This is like nothing he's done with any of the other families who have contracted him. But Stiles manages to fill all potential awkward silences and he’s so visibly ecstatic that they’re all in the same room that Derek can’t help being charmed by him all over again.

And at the end of the evening, John sits him down. “Hey, look, my son likes having you over a lot and if this is going to be a regular thing then maybe we should stop revising your contract and get rid of it entirely.”

Derek knows this isn’t exactly what Stiles was going for, but it's _something_. He also notices John has a little trouble keeping eye contact with him, which is pretty telling for a guy who’s been in law enforcement as long as he has.

“It’s okay with me if it’s okay with you,” he says, and doesn’t even try not to grin when he hears Stiles hiss _yes_ from around the corner.

 

* * *

The next time he sees Stiles is three days later, when the two of them end up killing time after Derek’s done with work and John isn’t off shift yet. He gets a text that just says _are you busy looking at rocks or can you come over?_ and grins at it for a solid minute before replying _collecting soil samples, actually...still want me around?_

Stiles sends him an emoji that looks like a duckling vomiting sparkles, which he takes as a yes.

He doesn’t actually expect to end up getting his ass kicked at Borderlands while they talk about everything under the sun, and he definitely doesn’t expect Stiles to casually say, “You know you’re really good for him, right?”

Derek staunchly keeps his eyes on the screen. “Um.”

“Look, I know I was basically delusional at the time, but I remember this very clearly. He looked like everything was right with the world, you know?”

“Stiles--”

“And if you made him get to that point once, you should have no trouble doing it again,” Stiles continues. He wets his lips. “I mean, I don’t get why we have to dance around it. He could just kiss you and you’d be okay with it. Right?”

Derek hazards a glance at him. “Yeah.”

“And like, I know people don't just go around kissing whoever, but you’re not just a _whoever_ now.”

“Oh, thanks.”

“You make him happy. And you can relate him him in ways I can’t, you know? You guys can talk about...like, werewolf legislature and five o'clock shadow and not shit like being late to third period.”

“Not to disappoint you, but I don’t think I’ve had a conversation about five o’clock shadow my entire life.”

Stiles makes a face. “Seriously? Because now that I think about it, I have a _lot_ of things to say on that subject.”

What they actually end up talking about is Talia, once John gets home and asks if she had any questions about why they decided to throw out the contract.

“She seemed fine with it when I told her,” John says, scrunching up his face in a very Stiles-like way, “but I want to be sure.”

Derek tries not to get distracted by the way Stiles hangs onto his every word when he reassures John everything’s fine. Stiles is so curious about anything related to what it's like growing up in a werewolf pack, it has to be taking all his effort not to pepper Derek with questions himself when John asks how things are going for him at home.

They don’t actually end up talking about five o’clock shadow over dinner, but John gets him talking about his work. Derek is _awful_ at keeping his enthusiasm to himself, he knows this, but he still ends up babbling about soil erosion and the state forestry association and way too many things that really have no right to make John grin the way he does. “Laura pitched an article on poaching to them once and it was crazy, she got a lot of publicity for coming at it from a werewolf perspective.” 

“She’s got an angle on that subject most people don’t, doesn’t she,” John says, and that just sets Derek off again.

Stiles, meanwhile, sits there dreamily spooning mashed potatoes into his mouth looking like he’s about to sprout wings.

It happens the next time too, when Derek brings over pizza and Stiles winds up just sitting there starry-eyed and uncharacteristically quiet, watching the two of them. It's oddly charming, and Derek finds himself feeling more and more comfortable on these evenings, sitting around the Stilinski living room with mugs of tea and Stiles staring at them like he's watching his own private movie.

It's actually impressive that it took this long for this arrangement to get at all awkward, but of course, there had to be _something_.

Stiles disappears upstairs to finish his homework, which is unusual in and of itself, and John looks at Derek with a serious expression oddly reminiscent of Derek's own mother. “I’ve been wanting to talk to you about something.”

Derek swallows. “Okay, sure.”

“Stiles seems to like you a lot, and that's okay. I mean, you were there for him when he really needed someone to help him, I can’t blame him for having a little crush. And he _is_ on suppressants now, so if we’re lucky he won't even have another heat for a couple years.”

Somehow, Derek manages not to do a double take or blurt out “um, no he’s not.” He knows he'd have noticed if Stiles was on suppressants, he's got this kid's scent catalogued and memorized. He’d just been assuming he hadn't started them yet for some reason. 

Derek wouldn't force or expect any omega to take suppressants, but if Stiles was prescribed suppressants and isn't taking them, that strikes Derek as something his father should know about. Given how intense Stiles' heats are and how incredibly worried John got the last time, he understands why the poor guy wants some security. But Derek knows it's not his place to say anything--at least not to John.

Se he keeps his thoughts to himself, reassures John that he doesn’t mind spending time with Stiles--or him--at all, and halfheartedly turns his attention to the football game playing on the television.

“If he starts getting overwhelming--because he does, it’s just part of who he is, but he definitely does,” John tells him seriously, “don’t be afraid to tell him you need a little room to breathe.”

One of the things Derek likes most about Stiles is how huge his personality is, how he plays his cards close to the chest and then lays them all out for the people he really trusts. “Oh,” he says. “I don’t think it’ll be a problem.”

 

* * *

It becomes a routine.

Sometimes Stiles is at Scott’s so it’s just him and John, or sometimes John is still at work so it’s just him and Stiles, and sometimes their schedules all line up perfectly, but Derek is over on a regular basis.

Stiles lying about his suppressants is nagging at him still; Derek's heart breaks a little every time he tries to imagine John's reaction in a few weeks when he realizes Stiles is going into heat again, right on schedule and just as terrifyingly intense as before. Derek isn't sure what Stiles is playing at, he can't conceive of why Stiles would lie to his father about this, but Derek knows he needs to talk to him about it. Just as soon as he figures out _how_.

He still gives Stiles big bone-crushing hugs when he arrives and leaves, every time. Neither John nor Stiles seem to mind, and Derek is starting to feel like he needs a fix every now and then. Just a few seconds to really inhale Stiles' scent, double-wrapped in the scents of John and the house itself. 

He doesn't usually get hugs from the same person on more than one occasion, not including family members, so maybe that’s part of it. It’s strange getting close to an omega he was originally heat matched with, much less the omega’s father, but not strange in a bad way.

Derek is kind of conflicted, since on one hand it's adorable that Stiles wants to make sure John's taken care of, but on the other...Derek is a little more attached to Stiles than he planned on being. And he likes John, but what if he's walking on dangerous ground here? Stiles and his dad need each other so much, Derek might accidentally end up throwing a wrench in the works and ruining everything.

There’s also the part where he isn't quite sure what to _do_ with an alpha.

Derek is used to hormonal teenage omegas who literally throw themselves at him most of the time. He can't imagine John doing that. He's also used to not really knowing much about the people he sleeps with. The Stilinskis went out of their way to help him feel welcome and make sure they all got to know each other a little bit first and Derek didn't realize until then how many elements of a conventional relationship he's been missing out on. Now that he does, the last thing he wants is to risk upsetting the balance.

He still isn’t sure if John has any idea what Stiles is up to. Chances are, he’s still just assuming his kid got a little attached to Derek. Which is the truth, technically, but not the whole truth.

The next time Derek's over and it starts to get late, Stiles helpfully tells him it's okay if he wants to lie down, his dad won't mind. Derek gives him a bit of a glower at first because, well, if he lies down he's going to end up with his head essentially in John's lap.

Stiles just smiles brightly and pops another cheez-it into his mouth.

It makes Derek’s stomach go all jumpy. He doesn’t know how John isn’t seeing it, but it’s clear Stiles _really_ wants this to work and they can't say it won't work because they've _already_ connected pretty intimately, Stiles is plenty aware of this because he was there. But at the same time, there’s a voice in the back of Derek’s mind screaming that he wants too many things and he’s going to regret it. 

And somehow, against all logic and reason, he hears himself haltingly ask, "Is that...do you mind?" And John is half-shrugging and making a _be my guest_ gesture and Derek is probably going to worry about this later, should really be worrying about it _now_ , but he just can’t.

John very, very tentatively threads a hand into Derek's hair and Derek lets that nagging internal voice fade out, finds himself wondering if maybe Stiles' next heat could involve the three of them again, if him being in heat would make it okay... Finds himself wondering if he didn't just stumble across the reason Stiles is lying about his suppressants, and feels guilty all over again that John is so very in the dark about everything happening around him right now.

It’s not until a couple weeks later, when Derek ends up lingering over a Mythbusters marathon and Stiles cheerfully suggests he stay the night, that John looks at him and blinks like several light bulbs all just popped on at once.

Derek excuses himself and pretends not to notice.

 

* * *

Stiles opens the door for him and _stares_.

“Oh,” says Derek. “Right.” 

He’s been busy the past couple of days. He was contracted as a heat match for a female omega who preferred not to end her cycle covered in stubble burn, so he’s practically clean-shaven right now. Or at least as clean-shaven as he ever gets; honestly, if people don’t want hairy heat matches, they can hire one who isn’t a wolf. 

Explaining this to Stiles just makes his eyes narrow, and that’s when Derek realizes it somehow never occurred to Stiles that Derek would still be taking on other omegas.

"So _that's_ why you smell weird," he says finally. John told him about this; it’s exactly the kind of thing Stiles would say to his dad when he came home from a date with someone Stiles hadn’t pre-approved.

Without thinking, Derek shoots back, "That's funny, you smell exactly the same for someone who's been on suppressants these past few weeks."

He regrets it immediately. If Stiles had a tail, it would be drooping between his legs right now.

Derek didn't mean to be so sharp with him, but now that it's out, he has to keep going. “Stiles,” he hisses, “This means your next heat is going to hit in about a month and your dad seems to think it won't be for another couple _years_.”

Derek is surprised by how much he’s really starting to care about John, almost in a protective way. This is a guy who's been through quite enough; he shouldn't have to be blindsided by another one of Stiles' heats. And he's such a dedicated person, to his kid, to his work, to making sure Derek knows how important he is to them. He's been doing everything he can to make things easier on Stiles and it’s going to be a slap in the face if he finds out the truth. 

Derek reminds Stiles of all this while John's busy in the kitchen, and the poor thing just wilts all over again.

"I just didn't want…" Stiles trails off, probably because he's not entirely sure _what_ he wants. He looks trapped, all of a sudden, anxious like Derek has never seen him. "Do you think they'd work if I started them now? I-- I could start them now."

Derek cups Stiles' cheek, thumbing over his cheekbone and urging him to make eye contact. "You don't have to take them if you don't feel like they're right for you. But if you don't, you owe it to your dad to be honest with him about it. We could talk to him together, okay? Maybe it wouldn't be so hard then."

Maybe going into heat is the only way Stiles can think of to make John want to touch him again. Or maybe it’s the only way he can be with Derek without feeling guilty for taking him away from John. Thinking about it twists Derek’s heart and brain in too many directions at once. He tries not to dwell on the possibilities.

Stiles looks more upset about the prospect of explaining himself to his dad than he does about taking the pills. He inhales a shaky breath, shifts his weight from foot to foot, and Derek has to pull him into a hug.

Stiles clings to him like he can’t let go. “I'll take the pills.” 

Derek knows he should feel satisfied, but he doesn’t.

 

* * *

Derek keeps this secret to himself.

It eats him up inside each time John confides in him a little more, admitting he likes having another alpha around, that it settles him in a way he didn't know he'd been missing so much. “You’re kind of a marshmallow, even though you don’t look like it,” John tells him at one point, sounding so much like Stiles it’s ridiculous. Derek takes that as a compliment and prays that the next time he sees Stiles he’ll have started suppressants.

“It’s good having someone else around who knows Stiles,” John admits on another occasion. “Knows how to handle him, you know? Because honestly, sometimes I don’t feel like I’m doing the greatest job.”

"You're doing the best you can," Derek says, a little surprised at how fast the words jump out of him. "He knows that."

John doesn't say anything back, but he looks at him like maybe he wants to believe it.

Stiles is still incorrigible about finding excuses for them to be alone together. Inviting Derek over, then suddenly remembering he promised to help Scott with his history paper isn’t his most subtle maneuver, but Derek can’t do more than growl at him a little just to let him know he’s onto him while Stiles just beams and scampers out the door. Derek can’t even find it in him to be annoyed that Stiles doesn’t doesn’t consider his growls remotely intimidating--he loves that Stiles is so interested in werewolves, it's sweet and it makes him feel like he doesn't need to worry about downplaying that part of himself as much as he normally does. 

John’s earned himself some brownie points on that front too, by not freaking out when Derek got a little growly and alpha-eyed with his son. So it isn’t all that surprising when he looks over at Derek while they’re in the midst of skimming the Netflix selections and says, “Talia told me about teaching you and your sisters to control your wolf forms when they were kids. She promised to show me a couple pictures sometime. If that’s okay with you, I mean.”

He sounds perfectly casual, but Derek can practically smell his curiosity on him, same as he always can with Stiles. “Yeah, of course it’s fine. But do you really want to wait for her to lug out the photo albums?”

It just leaps out of him before he realizes it. Normally werewolves only fully shift when they're among pack or feeling threatened; he'd never consider shifting around just any old human.

John’s mouth drops open a bit.

He tests the waters a little bit first, lets his fangs and claws slide out and gives a playful little growl that he belatedly realizes John can't actually _tell_ is playful and hey, maybe this is a stupid thing to do in front of the _sheriff._

But John just stares at him wearing a facial expression that's 100% Stiles and his eyes get a little darker and _that_ , Derek decides, is very interesting. 

He’s never had an alpha show interest in him before and it's as humbling as it is a power trip, knowing he's having such an effect on someone like this. John is, in all aspects of his life, a powerful, protective alpha. Derek was a little nervous about being matched with Stiles for that very reason--everyone knows the sheriff, everyone knows how intimidating he can be. And then John decided they all needed to meet and get to know each other _before_ Stiles' first heat, and, well-- Derek may be very good at giving omegas what they need, but normal social interactions are really not his strong suit; anyone in his pack can vouch for that. There’s a reason his mom does all the negotiations. Even his sisters tease him about being way too shy for someone who does heat matching on the side. But omegas in heat are so flooded with hormones all he needs to worry about is taking care of them, he doesn't have to make small talk or anything _really_ awkward. 

This, though, this thing with John… their flirting, or whatever it is that they're doing, it just feels natural. It feels right.

“Did you want to see more?” Derek asks carefully, voice thick through his fangs.

And John nods.

The last vestiges of uncertainty fall away from him when he starts pulling off his shirt and John's immediate reaction is to yelp, "What are you _doing_?" 

Derek stops with his t-shirt halfway up his torso, and John stumbles on. “Not that I...I mean, it’s not like I _mind_ ,” he clarifies, holding up his hands. “I just, ah...didn't expect that.”

It’s good not being the only awkward one in the room. Derek’s sure he’s grinning like a loon. “Turning into a wolf is a great way to ruin whatever you’re wearing. I’d rather not have to drive back home naked.”

“Oh.” Somehow, John’s eyebrows creep even higher. “I actually hadn't thought that far ahead. Strip, then shift. Got it. Um, I’ll just…?” And he actually turns his head to give Derek privacy when he starts unbuckling his belt, never mind that he's seen him naked before and come all over his hand. Every time Derek thinks he’s getting close to understanding this family, they throw him for another loop.

Derek finishes undressing as quickly as he can, stands up from the couch, and shifts. John still has his back partially turned, so Derek carefully pads over into his field of vision. John's awed little exhale is enough to have Derek butting up against his arm; a gesture of trust. He's never shown his wolf to anyone outside his pack before, but instinct and common sense tells him that it's best to establish a safe space. Not everyone is going to be comfortable having a 175 pound wolf in their living room.

After that, time sort of stretches into a warm, hazy lull. John has nice hands and a comfortable lap, and being in his wolf form means the distinct scent of the Stilinski house is even sharper to Derek now. He’d roll in it if he could, wrap himself in it like a blanket, but the next best thing is laying his head against John’s thigh and letting himself drowse.

When Stiles comes home, he immediately mutters _oh my god, did it actually work?_ and Derek realizes the first thing he’s noticed are clothes draped over the back of a chair. Then Stiles goes into the living room, finds John sitting on the couch reading a book and petting a wolf that's dozing with its head in his lap, and Derek has to force open his eyes to make sure the poor kid’s jaw isn’t actually on the floor.

Judging by the hum of his pulse, this is almost more exciting than finding them making out. Derek would smile if he could. Stiles, when he pulls himself together, lets out an actual squeak.

John gives him a mildly reproving _shh_. “I know you’re capable of producing sounds only canines can hear, but let him sleep some more, okay?”

Stiles nods solemnly, standing in place and fidgeting for a minute. "’Kay, I'm gonna go up--" 

"Homework can wait a little,” John says quietly. “Come over here."

Derek’s been trying to keep it under wraps, the fact that he still wants Stiles, but every time he hugs him he can’t let go. John’s not an idiot, he has to have picked up on that. And Derek's starting to believe that maybe John wants _him_ , even if it's still an abstract kind of want. Either way, leaving Stiles out of the equation is impossible.

"You’ve never seen him do this, have you?" John asks, and Stiles shakes his head, still looking awed. 

John is scratching him right behind his ears and Derek is so content that he hasn't stirred since Stiles came into the house aside from slitting his eyes open. It takes all of his effort just to yawn, and when he does Stiles makes a sound Derek isn’t sure is even human. 

“Okay, I know it’s not always polite to compare werewolves to dogs, but you’re like the biggest puppy ever right now.” He has a hand half extended, like he’s about to reach out and pet him, but then he catches himself. 

John inclines his head before Derek has a chance to make a sound. "Go on. He likes you.” 

Stiles' heartbeat gives a little flutter, Derek can hear it.

He’s waiting for Stiles' gangly hand to smooth between his ears, but instead Stiles tries his best to give him a hug, nuzzles his face into the thick black fur at Derek's neck like he never wants to stop.

He's not supposed to be thinking about how much he wants Stiles to curl up next to him, but it’s so fucking nice, the idea of Stiles and John both making him feel safe and cozy. The way Derek's lying right now, Stiles could slip onto the couch and lift one of his paws up and just curl right up to him, and Derek _wants_.

He settles for nuzzling Stiles back, licking his cheek when he moves close enough

Derek doesn't get this kind of intimacy unless he's with an omega during their heat, and even then it's all about giving _them_ what they need, not him. Stiles surprised him in so many ways. He actually wanted to touch Derek back and learn what _he_ liked, even though his heat was overwhelming him. Derek’s not going to stop him from trying to give back now, even though maybe he should. 

He can indulge himself just for a little while.

**Author's Note:**

> A few words on how a/b/o works in this verse and some other stuff:
> 
>   * In terms of attraction, a person's a/b/o designations tend to come first, and most people see gender as secondary. In Stiles' case, he's attracted to alphas and it doesn't matter to him what sex or gender they are. Some people do have more concrete preferences regarding gender, but most of them are pretty indiscriminate since it's more about compatibility than anything else. Stiles wanted a male alpha for his heat mostly because his first fantasies revolved around his dad, but he likes girls too. And of course, attraction can be a very malleable thing--Derek assumed up until now that he was only into omegas.
>   * Babies for everybody! Pregnancy and the act of impregnation are possible regardless of a person’s sex or a/b/o designation (though fertility rates are lower in general because holy potential overpopulation, no thanks). Omegas are the most fertile and it’s not unusual for omega couples to have synced up heat cycles. While omegas have a low chance of impregnating but a high chance of getting pregnant, alphas are the inverse and have considerably lower pregnancy rates than others. Betas, those poor unexciting guys, are pretty solidly in the middle.
>   * Age gaps aren’t such a big deal since alphas tend to mature later while heats typically start hitting omegas around 16. Age of consent is 15, adulthood is still 18. Obligatory reminder that I don't endorse handwaving age of consent irl (or 99% of the things happening in this verse, lbr).
>   * That said, the 30-year age gap between John and Stiles is definitely one that would raise a lot of eyebrows. Even in this world, even without the whole incest factor. Also, I’m making the sheriff mid-40s instead of Linden Ashby’s actual age because he seriously doesn’t look 54 anyway.
>   * A/b/o designations work a little differently among the werewolf population. It’s possible to have more than one alpha wolf in a pack but only one is the leader. This is normally a hereditary thing. For the Hales, Derek, his mother, and his sisters are all alphas but his mother is the pack alpha as well and Laura is next in line.
>   * Um...I have a tumblr I should really use more and literally forget about for months at a time, but feel free to say hi or shoot me any other questions at [abapically.tumblr.com](http://abapically.tumblr.com)
> 



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